Teaching Materials Archive

The Green Feather Movement

Article. By Alison Kysia. 2013.
History of a little-known student resistance movement against McCarthyism and censorship.

Clyde Kennard Letter to the Editor, The American, 1960

Article. By Clyde Kennard. 1960.
Letter to the editor of Hattiesburg American on school integration.

Hidden History of Strikes and Other Protests in College Sports

Article. By Dave Zirin. 2013.
Even in football, a sport whose DNA is constructed to produce obedience and deference to authority, people can be pushed only so far before they push back.

Letter to the Editor by Clyde Kennard, The American, 1958

Article. By Clyde Kennard. 1958.
Letter to the editor of the Hattiesburg American on integration.

Howard Zinn Speaking at NCSS, 2008 - | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Why Students Should Study History: Article Excerpts

Article. Howard Zinn interview by Barbara Miner. 1994. Rethinking Schools magazine. I started studying history with one view in mind: to look for answers to the issues and problems I saw in the world about me. By the time I went to college I had worked in a shipyard, had been in the Air Force, had been in a war. I came to history asking questions about war and peace, about wealth and poverty, about racial division.

A Review of ‘42’: Jackie Robinson’s Bitter Pill

Article. By Dave Zirin. 2013.
Dave Zirin describes how 42 limits the story to a tale of “individual triumph through singular greatness,” ignoring the social movements and broader context of the time.

‘I’m Studying the Vietnam War . . .’: The Veteran Voice in the Vietnam War History Curriculum

Article. By Jerry Lembcke. 2013.
Reflections on the pros and cons of student oral histories with Vietnam War veterans.

Why I’m Rooting for Tommy Lee Jones

Article. By William Katz. 2013.
An opportunity to highlight Congressman Thaddeus Stevens' fight for equality.

Tarantino Bloodies the Truth: A History Teacher’s Lament

Article. By Larry Miller. January 2013.
A review of the film Django Unchained.

Introduction: The Life and Work of Howard Zinn

Article. By Robert J. Helfenbein and Rose A. Jackson. Indiana University. 2013.
Introduction to a special edition of "International Journal of Social Education" by scholars presenting and discussing perspectives on the important influences of Howard Zinn to education, history, and citizenship.

There’s Infinitely More to Martin Luther King Jr. Than ‘I Have a Dream’

Article. By Craig Gordon.
Back in 2001, I was trying to get my eleventh grade U.S. history class to focus on a passage from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? Unfortunately, I was not surprised when a student protested, "We already know about him. We're tired of hearing about Martin Luther King."

Attica Prison Uprising

Resource list. Overview with links to articles, books, primers, films, and websites about the Attica Prison Uprising for the classroom.

The Export of Colors

Article. By Manlio Argueta. From Cuzcatlán, Donde bate la mar del sur.
An excerpt from a novel of historical fiction about the impact of an export economy on peasants in El Salvador.

Plessy v. Ferguson: The Organizing History of the Case

Article. By Keith W. Medley.
The role of the Comité des Citoyens and The Crusader newspaper in the Plessy v. Ferguson case.

The First Decoration Day

Article. By David W. Blight. 2011.
The people's history of Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina during Reconstruction.

Scholastic Inc. — Pushing Coal: A 4th-grade Curriculum Lies through Omission

Article. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools, Summer 2011.
Rethinking Schools exposes links between Scholastic and the coal industry.

Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: Teaching a People’s History of Reconstruction

Article. Background reading for teachers. By Bill Bigelow. 4 pages.
A review of Freedom's Unfinished Revolution, a collection of primary documents for high school on the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Beyond the Medal: Representations of Disability in Caldecott Winners

Article. By Chloë Myers-Hughes and Hank Bersani Jr. Winter 2009-10.
The authors of “10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Ableism” look at what Caldecott winners tell young children about disability.

10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Ableism

Article. By Chloë Myers and Hank Bersani Jr. Rethinking Schools, Winter 2008/09.
A guide for analyzing children's books for prejudice by able-bodied and able-minded people toward people with disabilities.

The Bonus Army

Article. By Mickey Z.
History of the 1932 Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF) or Bonus Army.

Howard Zinn: Interview by Bill Moyers

Article. Interview of Howard Zinn by Bill Moyers. 2009.
Book excerpt of Howard Zinn on The People Speak and a range of topics in U.S. history and contemporary issues.

Bound for the Rio Grande | Zinn Education Project

Bound for the Rio Grande: Traitors — Or Martyrs

Background Reading (PDF) and Song. Reading by Milton Meltzer and song by David Rovics. 1974. 4 pages and 5 minutes.
The story of the San Patricio Battalion, Irish-American soldiers who deserted the U.S. Army during the U.S.-Mexican War and fought on the side of the Mexicans.